DPP poll finds 77.6% identify as Taiwanese

By Lee Hsin-fang / Staff reporter

Sun, Jul 07, 2013 - Page 3

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that its latest survey suggested 77.6 percent of those polled identify themselves as Taiwanese, while only 10.1 percent identify themselves as Chinese.

When asked what is the core value that Taiwan should uphold when conducting cross-strait exchanges, 31 percent of the interviewed said “national sovereignty,” 27.5 percent said “peaceful relations between both sides of the Strait” and 11 percent said “economic development.”

The party said that while President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has been trumpeting its cross-strait policies, the survey found that 52.5 percent are discontent with the Ma government’s China policies, while 33.3 percent say they are satisfied.

On the independence-unification issue, the survey found that 25.9 percent said they support unification, 59 percent support independence and 10.3 percent prefer the “status quo.”

When asked whether Taiwan and China are parts of one country, the party said the survey found 78.4 percent disagree, while 15 percent agreed.

As for whether Taiwan and China are two districts in one country, 70.6 percent disagree, while 22.8 percent agree, the survey showed.

The poll found 51.1 percent hope Taiwan will maintain “the ‘status quo’ forever,” 22.2 percent believe that “Taiwan will be unified by China” and 9.8 percent respond that “Taiwan will agree to be unified by China,” while 6.6 percent believe that “China will agree to Taiwan’s independence” at some point.

When asked which among four descriptions — “one country on each side,” “a special state-to-state relationship,” “one country, two areas,” and “two sides are of one country” — they find the most acceptable, 54.9 percent said “one country on each side,” 25.3 percent chose “a special state-to-state relationship,” 9.8 percent said “one country, two areas” and 2.5 percent favor “two sides are of one country,” the survey showed.

The party said its survey center conducted the poll in a bid to gauge the public’s views and attitudes on the government’s China policies.

The telephone survey, carried out from June 4 to June 6, collected 1,149 samples, with a margin of error of 2.95 percentage points.